Description
Disaster response is everyone's responsibility. If a disaster occurs, the person sitting next to you is the "first responder" not a fireman, policeman, or emergency medical technician. This role means that everyone should have some type of training on how to respond, take action, and providing aid to his or her family, friends, and neighbors. Why do we need to learn these skills? Because natural disasters cannot be thought of as a singular event, but rather a series of interconnected cascading consequences (dominoes) that are initiated by a single calamitous event. Also, the peoples of the various nations on the planet are interconnected through families, marriages, and shared experiences. Finally, the economics of this planet are interconnected like never before. Currently, natural disaster response planning and training is the conducted by emergency response agencies, security agencies, healthcare agencies, and aid agencies. While these groups do a journeyman's job in responding, their focus is limited to their organization's specialty. The purpose of this thesis will show that modern natural disaster response planning needs to develop into a fusion of Geology, Geography, Economics, and Cloud Computing. First, background information on how Geology, Geography, and Economics influence the type, severity, and duration of natural disaster impacts. Secondly, cloud computing is assessed to identify and explain emerging technologies that would increase response efficiencies. Thirdly, review and analysis of the Hurricane Katrina disaster is conducted to identify lessons learned that could be applied to future disaster planning. Upon completion of the above three tasks, business and military strategic planning methodologies will be analyzed to identify strengths and weaknesses. After choosing a methodology to use, "how to" instructions are outlined on choosing the appropriate disaster for the location, develop a structure, selection of staff, conducting research, and creating a science-based disaster response exercise. Finally, after completion of developing an exercise (with assessment parameters, and measures of effectiveness), a pathway toward improved exercises with greater community involvement will be discussed.
